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February 7, 2010

Did Sarah Palin or any others at the Tea Party Convention talk about pot prohibition or mass incarceration?

Though I sense that everyone is still trying to figure out just what the Tea Party movement is (or isn't), I think it is safe to assert and assume that the movement is interest in promoting human liberty and concerned about "big government." In light of these apparent interests, I keep wondering whether and when some folks in the Tea Party movement might start expressing concern about some of the most prominent modern criminal justice examples of big government severely restricting human liberty, namely government prohibitions on the use and sale of marijuana and government reliance on mass incarceration to address various perceived social ills.

Because the Tea Party movement seems likely to skew more conservative than libertarian, I am not entirely surprised that the movement has largely avoided discussion of modern criminal justice issues. Nevertheless, I believe some Tea Party favorites like Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck have in the past expressed at least tepid support for the idea of pot decriminalization, and there are a number of religious conservatives who wish our criminal sentences would focus more on rehabilitation and less on incapacitation. Thus, if the Tea Party is able to effectively persist, I expect (or at least hope) it will take a fresh look at some criminal justice issues that the two traditional parties lack the courage to seriously confront.

Comments

Nope. She mostly just told us that foreigners don't have rights. I think she forgot to write pot on her hand. Another guy said he was going to get rid of diversity in North Carolina, so it might be awhile before they get around to weed.

Posted by: Matt | Feb 7, 2010 6:03:37 PM

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